Memorize these and recognize 47.7% of all The Old West clues.
| # | Answer | Count | Sample Clue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Billy the Kid | 12 | After killing this outlaw, Pat Garrett wrote a book to "correct the thousand false statements" in the press |
| 2 | Bat Masterson | 10 | This lawman's nickname "Bat" was a shortening of his given name, Bartholomew |
| 3 | the Pony Express | 9 | It had operated only a year & a half when put out of business by the telegraph |
| 4 | Samuel Colt | 8 | This gunmaker's classic Peacemaker.45 revolver could be purchased by mail order for $17 |
| 5 | Judge Roy Bean | 8 | His verdict: "I find this corpse guilty of carrying a concealed weapon & fine it $40" |
| 6 | Tombstone | 7 | In the 1880s this Arizona town famed for its OK Corral mined what today would be $1/2 billion in silver |
| 7 | Belle Starr | 7 | The only criminal conviction of this "Bandit Queen" was for horse theft—she spent 9 months in prison |
| 8 | Wild Bill Hickok | 7 | A Topeka paper said this "wild" gunfighter should be thanked for "the safety of life and property at Abilene" |
| 9 | Annie Oakley | 6 | Gold-plated pistols used by this female sharpshooter are at L.A.'s Autry Museum of Western Heritage |
| 10 | Pat Garrett | 5 | in 1882 this sheriff wrote the book "An Authentic Life of Billy the Kid" to correct "false statements" that had been published |
| 11 | the Oregon Trail | 5 | In the 1840s settlers began following this 2,000-mile overland route, which began in Independence, Mo. |
| 12 | Jesse James | 4 | At the time of his murder in April 1882, he was living in St. Joseph, Missouri, using the name Thomas Howard |
| 13 | Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid | 4 | In 1901 a Pinkerton agent trailed this outlaw pair & Etta Place all the way to South America |
| 14 | Stetson | 4 | This hat maker traveled west, saw a need & returned in 1865 to make his famous hat in Philadelphia |
| 15 | Buffalo Bill | 4 | Wild Bill Hickok stopped a man from beating this other famous Bill who was 11 at the time & the two became lifelong friends |
| 16 | Gunfight at the O.K. Corral | 4 | Of this incident, Wyatt Earp remarked, "were it to be done again, I would do it exactly as I did it at the time" |
| 17 | Wyatt Earp | 3 | This deputy U.S. Marshal believed Frank Stilwell killed his kid brother Morgan on 1882; bad news for Frank |
| 18 | Virginia City | 3 | In 1859 this Nevada town sprung up virtually overnight with the discovery of the Comstock Lode |
| 19 | sheep | 3 | Outraged cattlemen would shoot, dynamite & club these animals or stampede them over cliffs |
| 20 | Oklahoma | 3 | The Santa Fe Trail split into the Mountain Branch & the Cimarron Cutoff via what's now this state's panhandle |
| 21 | Gold | 3 | This was discovered by James Marshall on the American River, January 24, 1848 |
| 22 | Geronimo | 3 | This Chiricahua Apache leader's surrender to Gen. Nelson Miles in 1886 ended major military action with Native Americans |
| 23 | Doc Holliday | 3 | He graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1872 before moving west |
| 24 | Chaps | 3 | For protecting a cowboy's legs, they come in varieties like shotgun & woollies |
| 25 | Calamity Jane | 3 | Rumored to have once married Wild Bill Hickok, it's no rumor she dressed like a man |
| 26 | Buffalo | 3 | Cibola, as in the 7 Cities of Cibola, is the Spanish word for this large animal of the plains |
| 27 | Black Bart | 3 | After robbing stagecoaches, this "dark", dapper outlaw left poems he'd written signed "The PO8" |
| 28 | stagecoach | 3 | Seen here, this vehicle that gave way to the railroad was the subject of many a Western movie |
| 29 | Navajo | 3 | When Kit Carson halted this Indian tribe's raidings, they returned to rug weaving & blanket making |
| 30 | Cody | 3 | The grave of this wild west scout & showman is on top of Lookout Mountain near Golden, Colo. |
| 31 | a chuck wagon | 3 | Vehicle invented by Charles Goodnight in 1866 to feed men on 5-month trail drives |
| 32 | (John) Sutter | 3 | In 1840 this Swiss was granted 49,000 acres in California & built a tannery, a fort, a mill... |
| 33 | Winchester | 2 | Due to its reliability, this arms maker's model 1873 rifle was called "the Gun that Won the West" |
| 34 | the Utes | 2 | This people lived in Colorado & the state one west named for them; other Indians called them "Bad Lodges" for their ill-built tipis |
| 35 | the railroad | 2 | In the 19th century 130 million acres of federal land were granted to these companies |
| 36 | the Donner party | 2 | Group of California-bound settlers who made the fatal mistake of taking the "Hastings Cut-Off" in 1846 |
| 37 | the Chisholm Trail | 2 | In 1867 Joseph McCoy set up a shipping yard in Abilene, Kansas to hold Texas cattle arriving on this trail |
| 38 | Texas | 2 | Just as Missourians made Jesse James a legend, this state glorified robber Sam Bass |
| 39 | Stagecoaches | 2 | A Concord, New Hampshire firm sold these vehicles, driven by a "Jehu", for about $1300 each |
| 40 | Sitting Bull | 2 | In 1885 this Sioux leader was allowed to leave the reservation to tour with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show |
| 41 | Ned Buntline | 2 | He was jailed for his part in NYC's Astor Place Riots, not for the hyperbole of his western "dime novels" |
| 42 | Mike Fink | 2 | It was said all red-headed kids along the Mississippi River were fathered by this "King of the Keelboatmen" |
| 43 | Lew Wallace | 2 | As New Mexico gov. this future "Ben-Hur" author offered to pardon Billy the Kid but the prosecutor nixed the plan |
| 44 | John Wesley Hardin | 2 | This outlaw's father, a minister, gave him his first & middle names after an 18th century English clergyman |
| 45 | Indians | 2 | Books say no more than 1,000 pioneers & these people died battling each other on the Oregon Trail |
| 46 | Frank James | 2 | Jesse's brother, he said outlaw life was "one long, anxious, inexorable, eternal vigil" |
| 47 | Dodge City | 2 | The Long Branch Saloon in this frontier city in Kansas served cold beer, tea, milk, lemonade & sarsparilla |
| 48 | dime novels | 2 | The pseudonymous Ned Buntline sensationalized the old West in these novels with a price in their name |
| 49 | Deadwood | 2 | Before becoming sheriff of this South Dakota town, Seth Bullock opened a hardware store there with partner Sol Star |
| 50 | Crazy Horse | 2 | In 1876 he led the Indian attack at Little Bighorn; a year later he was killed by a soldier at Fort Robinson, Neb. |
These appear 8+ times. Memorize these first.
Jump to: Other | Revolutionary Era | Ancient | Modern (post-1990)